Mirai Merging
by Twinnie
Summary: Trunks' incursion into the past created a whole new timeline... or not. What happens when the Earthlings suddenly remember the lives of their Mirai counterparts? How will they deal with the memory of a world savaged by the Androids? How will Trunks?


Ten years after Buu. Trunks' travel into the past did not create another timeline, after all. One day, the habitants of Earth wake up with a new set of memories: those of their "Mirai" counterparts. See how their lives are affected, and how Trunks deals with remembering his first meeting with Vegeta.

* * *

**Mirai Merging**

Explosions, random destruction, and dying : these had been the topic of many a conversation for the past couple of days. Ever since Earth's activity had seemed to pause for a minute for a great part of the population – just a blink, and then they suddenly had a new additional set of memories. Or rather, most of the adults did; children and teenagers didn't seem to be concerned by the experience in such a large scale.

What had been at first considered by the affected people as an oddly realistic and painfully long nightmare was now perceived as the greatest mystery since the events surrounding Cell. Scientists and psychiatrists were omnipresent on television sets, each of them providing the audience with their own name and explanation for what was generally suspected to be a gigantic collective hallucination. Prestidigitators were interviewed as well, and discussed the odds of the 'memories' being due to the work of an illusionist. However, nobody ever mentioned the content of these hallucinations; for the feelings of horror, loss and destruction thrown upon most of the population were such that they refused to pause and think of the 'what' – the 'how' was all that mattered. That, and the 'make it stop'.

It seemed that the traditional voyeuristic tricks used by the media to hold onto their audience – violence, mass destruction, helplessness – would not work this time. Teenagers complained, and those who 'remembered' 'dying' in the early months of the hallucination did too, for they wanted to know what the fuss was all about. But their questions remained ignored.

Those who did remember had a name for the horror: Androids. In their –dream? memory?- the infamous duo had been wrecking havoc on the Earth's surface. Those who hadn't lost a loved one were scarce, and those who had never seen a devastated location even more so. Those who had witnessed first-hand an attack usually remembered it as being the cause of their-- 'death'.

There was a boy though – almost a man, really – who remembered a lot more than just one attack. He had actually sought fights with the androids. The pain and humiliation they had inflicted upon him were directly personal, after all; and not even the time spent in the past with the young Gohan and the other fighters could make his anger and suffering any less vivid. If those Androids were still around, he'd gladly go and seek out one more fight.

And to make things worse, Trunks Briefs was quite mad at his father.

He felt strange. Enlightened about what 18 and 17 were, but in a dark way. Oh, of course, Trunks had heard the stories before – how a future version of himself had come before he was even born to warn the gang about an incoming threat, and how he'd last been seen on the day after the Cell Games – but a few pictures and a nice story couldn't change the fact that 18 was little Marron's mother, and that his father could kick her ass any day. But now, along with the other people who had been alive in the other world, Trunks remembered his other life – the one he should have lead, had his mother not built the time machine that changed the fate of the Earth. He remembered being raised by his single mother in a dying world, where Gohan had been the one to teach him how to fly and fight; so dissimilar to his own golden childhood and teenage between his father, mother and little sister.

His father.

Bulma kept saying that his counterpart's memories shouldn't change the way he felt about Vegeta. After all, Trunks had spent years with his father, loved him, trained with him; and the "other" Trunks had made his peace with Vegeta before he left – right before Trunks' two lives merged into one. Only, eighteen-year-old Trunks had a hard time dealing with the brand new memory that Vegeta had let his mother and baby-self almost die in an air-crash without bothering to spare them a glance.

Too much. It was just too much information, too much pain, and he needed to be angry at someone, to hold a grudge against anyone, otherwise he was pretty sure he would snap. He couldn't really be mad at 18 and 17, for they weren't responsible for their counterparts' acts. So it was convenient to blame Vegeta – after all, he was the same man that had said and done all these things to his other self. To… him. And now, Vegeta was blatantly ignoring the problem that had Bulma and Trunks nearly tear their own hair off: people were panicking everywhere, had been for the past two days, while Trunks himself struggled to sort out his two lives and put some orders into his memories and feelings; Vegeta had kept his daily routine intact, and would not take part willingly into any discussion concerning what was to be done to deal with the masses.

'_Such a self-centred bastard_,' Trunks thought, glaring daggers at the man leaning against a wall not far away from him.

They were all there in Capsule Corp., all of his mother's friends. There were Gohan, Goku and their families, and Krillin and Yamcha were apparently sharing stories about how they'd died, while Piccolo stood in a corner, keeping a protective eye on Gohan, Trunks noticed. The shape-shifters were oddly enough staying by Chi-Chi's side, and Trunks almost hit himself when he realised why: the last members of the gang had been much closer in the other time; they were just reproducing the same pattern.

Bulma herself was nowhere to be seen. She had collected Goten and Marron as soon as they'd arrived, and Trunks was almost sure she was going to lead each of them into a separate room, so they wouldn't be able to talk before they were called back with the others. 18 hadn't shown up, to which Trunks had been grateful; yet he was feeling uneasy as well, terrified as he was that experiencing the other 18's memories might lead her to become a raving murderer, too. He'd caught Bulma and Gohan's eyes when Krillin had got in the room with only his daughter, Oolong and Master Roshi; Trunks was certain the two of them shared his doubts. But none of them had mentioned anything yet; and Trunks had yet to talk to the glasses-wearing young man who would have become his mentor in another life.

Who _had been_ his mentor in another life.

It was strange, far too strange. He could remember his eighteenth birthday, celebrated alone with his mother in the kitchen of Capsule Corp. in between two time travels. And he could remember his eighteenth birthday, celebrated in the kitchen of Capsule Corp. with his grandparents, his parents and Bra, and also the party he'd had later with his friends. As if both events had happened at once. The only thing that made his birthday in the original timeline seem farther away in his memory was the time spent in the past and in the Room of Spirit and Time. How could two lives so different be really the same?

"I think I ought to thank you again, Trunks." Chi-Chi. She was one of the persons Trunks couldn't look at in the eye anymore. Not since he'd carried her only son's dead body back to her house – but her son was standing in the room with his little girl in his arms, and Chi-Chi had another son, conceived after Goku had died of that heart-virus… not. The lavender-haired youth waved vaguely to indicate Chi-Chi it was alright, and he tried to smile, but…

'_Is this what everybody else is feeling like? Or are they having it easier because they think the alternate life is a fake? Or worse, because they don't know why?'_

"How are you dealing with it, Chi-Chi?" Trunks asked quite suddenly, and those were his first words since the gang had started gathering. "I can't look at you and not think about your face when you saw Gohan dead, not to mention Goten and Pan who shouldn't exist…"

The silence that followed his question made Trunks realise that everyone else was listening in on the conversation. Several of the people in the room had died very early after all, so they had no memories of a ransacked world and lives… Why the heck would anyone want to know about how it felt? It was wrong! It was horrible! It was so painful…

"They are alive, Trunks." Bulma. Mum. Back from wherever she'd left the ones who didn't exist in the other timeline. She looked so different to what she should have. Less lines on her face, more mischievousness in her eyes…

"… and this is what you should focus on," stated Chi-Chi, completing Bulma's train of thoughts. "I just try to remember what's really important."

'_But all the rest is important too…_' Trunks would have asked further, but Hercule – sans Buu, Trunks noticed absently - had just entered the room, and Bulma seemed to decide that the subject was close. Trunks went to lean against a wall and crossed his arms, unconsciously mimicking the prince who stood and observed him discretely from the other side of the room.

"Alright, since everybody's here, we can all listen to each other and decide what to tell the masses if anything at all," announced Bulma, clasping her hands together to make sure she had everybody's attention. "Now silence everyone, and have a seat. Gohan, why don't you speak first?"

The oldest half-Saiyan's eyes narrowed a split-second, quickly enough that only a fighter would notice. But he never got the chance to actually speak as a loud voice interrupted him:

"I should have known you people know what's going on here." Hercule. Of all of the people present, he was the one with the less knowledge of their world. Trunks glanced at Gohan and Videl while Hercule walked around the sofa where his daughter was sat to settle down by her side with his legs stretched before him. "So what is it?"

"What did Gohan tell you, Videl?" asked Bulma, successfully ignoring anyone who was sniggering or rolling their eyes at Hercule in favour of making sure everybody knew the gist of the story. The youngest Mrs Son glanced around and rested her eyes on her father briefly before she answered:

"He said that the memories are real, that Trunks came from the future in a time machine before you and Vegeta even got together, and that he changed the course of history. He didn't elaborate, though…" Now everyone was considering Gohan, who was standing behind his wife with his head lowered, and appeared to be more interested in Pan's fingers than in the current conversation. "… Like you didn't tell me you died," she added softly as an afterthought, referring to Trunks' words to Chi-Chi.

"Didn't see the point," retorted her husband in a sombre voice that sounded like Vegeta's and matched Trunks' dark mood. He was saved from any comments when Hercule spoke again:

"Time machine, eh? Trunks, explain."

Trunks wished he too had a child he could pretend to be busy nursing so he could avoid any stares sent in his direction. He _didn't want_ to speak about his time travels, damnit! "Mum built the thing," he eventually answered in a tone similar to Gohan's. "Mum ?"

Bulma sighed. Of all the people in the room, she was one of the better placed to understand what was going on in the boys' minds at the time. But the scientific part of her was so excited by this unexpected turn of events – two timelines merging into one! – that she hadn't really paused to think about how the boys who'd fought and failed against the Androids felt after getting their memories back. But now was not the time to worry about this. "What do _you_ remember, Hercule? It's probably easier to start from there…"

"… Hum, flying people who destroyed lots of things. Androids, I think? Yeah, well anyway, I challenged them when they came to Orange Star City. I _was_ the World Champion, after all."

Bulma nodded. No one needed to ask what had happened to Hercule after that, so she completed the story for him. "You're not the only one who challenged them. Vegeta, Yamcha, Krillin, Piccolo, Tien and Chaotzu did too. Gohan was the only one who survived."

Hercule gulped audibly. "Stronger than Cell, then?"

Bulma realised with a start maybe why it was that Gohan was brooding so much. He'd had the potential to destroy the Androids all along…

"Their training simply wasn't enough to deal with them," said Goku, taking over briefly Bulma's explanation. Hercule seemed to think of something and opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Goku added: "And before you ask, I was already dead. Trunks saved my life when he travelled to the past."

The 'strongest man on Earth' nodded to himself. Then he asked again: "What about Cell, then?"

Trunks closed his eyes tightly to try and block the memories of the green Android – the one he'd unknowingly enabled to come onto this world. "It's my fault," he said softly. Cell had come to their world after stealing his time machine, after all. Had Trunks' eyes been open, he'd have seen Gohan's head snap up.

"It's not your fault he killed you, Trunks," declared the older half-Saiyan in a reprimanding and comforting voice Trunks remembered from his training. Look who was talking about misplaced guilt… Trunks opened his eyes to stare directly into Gohan's, daring him to blame himself for not destroying the Androids in the original timeline. A few moments passed, and the teacher's lips pulled upwards in a bitter smile. "Point taken." Gohan nodded and broke eyes' contact to play with Pan's hands again.

"So what happened?" asked Hercule once it was obvious neither Gohan nor Trunks were going to speak anymore.

"Basically, the Androids kept wrecking havoc all over the world so only a quarter of the original population was still alive by the time… well, now; and I built a time machine in which Trunks came to the past to warn us about the twin menace. And it worked! I hadn't really planned on the two timelines converging, though, especially as Trunks came back to the devastated world the first time he travelled…" Trunks thought his mother sounded far too perky at the moment, and that her stupid joy was responsible for her being oblivious to a lot of things.

"The timelines converged the moment I got back from my last time travel, Mum."

"I know that, Dear," Bulma replied absently, "I'm just wondering what it is about this time machine Cell stole away from you, and how _that_ timeline has merged with the two others, if at all…"

Trunks' eyes narrowed dangerously. "Well don't worry, if one day I suddenly remember being killed by Cell _again_, I'll make sure to let you know." The boy was seething. Was it asking too much of his own mother than expecting her to be a bit more _sensitive_ at times like this? Damn her! Damn Vegeta too – he was probably the reason why she was being so unfeeling. Trunks clenched his fists tightly and sent a furious look at his father.

Vegeta kept ignoring him and everybody else.

"People need to know." Piccolo's gruff voice interrupted Trunks' murderous thoughts and he turned his glare to the green alien instead. Trunks vaguely heard Krillin stuttering a protestation before a simple gesture from Goku interrupted him.

"Is this Kami speaking through you? And does Dende agree?" Goku's voice was calm and serious, and it was the voice everybody needed to hear at the moment. Trunks' new memories had made him see the man in a new light, and now he too saw him as the undisputable leader of their little gang of fighters. He wondered what his father would say if he knew that.

Hercule's inquiries about the nature of Piccolo's acquaintance with God went ignored, and when the silence was back at last, Piccolo spoke:

"The Dragon Balls will not be activated before eight months, as I am sure you are all aware of. And with the way people are reacting, they will need a convincing explanation or there will be a… 'gigantic collective' nervous break down before this time is over." The Namek paused and stared at each member of the team, eyes resting a slightly longer time on Bulma and Chi-Chi, then on Trunks and Gohan. "Ask them. Roshi wasn't really in the middle of it and most of us died shortly, so ask those four what it's like to remember living in both that world and ours."

Chi-Chi held her chin stubbornly high in the air, as if daring anyone to do anything about Piccolo's words. Bulma lit up a cigarette, Gohan shifted the sleeping Pan in his arms so the toddler would be more comfortable, and Trunks turned his glare towards Vegeta once more. He could hear the 'formerly dead people' shifting nervously all around the room, and he supposed he would end up telling them, but not now – not when he was so fragile and so angry.

"Did you die early too, Videl?" Tien's soft voice surprised Trunks, who just like everyone else turned to observe the young couple. Videl's legs were crossed at the ankle, one of her hands resting on her lap and the other going over her shoulder to come in contact with Gohan's leg. Gohan kept his eyes focused their daughter's head, but he shifted Pan to free one hand which he used to squeeze his wife's fingers.

"Orange Star City's first attack."

That was quite early, indeed. Trunks didn't even remember seeing the city on world's maps when he was a child. The lavender-haired boy almost missed the dark look Gohan sent in Krillin's general direction. Then again, he mused later, maybe he'd imagined it.

"You were at the Cell Games," Hercule said suddenly. Trunks blinked, not sure about what had triggered the statement.

"Your point being… ?"

Hercule blushed, stuttered, and finally managed to say: "I knew you as a kid, but you were there all grown-up. Before you were a kid. You're just… the proof that all this time machine stuff is true. You've got to be the one to tell."

Trunks blanched. "No."

Vegeta shifted against the wall and caught Goku's eyes. Gohan's grip on Videl tightened, Krillin scratched his head nervously, but everybody else seemed to agree with the idea.

"That's it," Bulma declared, tapping off her cigarette. "I'll contact the media for a press conference – let them know what it's about and that they'll get their answers. They'll come in here, I'll explain a bit about time travel, Hercule says it's true and we show you off. Or maybe we show you off and then Hercule shows u…"

"No." Vegeta's voice was harsh, unexpected, and left no room for argument. But Bulma was never one to be intimidated by the Saiyan. Her eyes narrowed as she turned towards him:

"And who do you think you are, Mister Holier-that-Thou-Prince of an extinct race, to know what is the best for _this_ planet? What do you…" Vegeta interrupted her with a snarl.

"I don't care about the damned _planet_, Woman."

Bulma looked like smoke was going to start rising from her ears when Gohan suddenly spoke up.

"Don't you think that the decision belongs to Trunks, Bulma?"

"And that Vegeta and Bra too have a say in it?" added Goku. "After all, it's all your family that's…"

"Alright, alright, I get the point, _thank you_." Bulma sounded incredibly pissed that her plan had found so many detractors, but her voice got all honey when she turned to her son. "So what do you think, Trunks? Will you at least think about it?"

The boy was going to tell her his decision was irrevocable when Piccolo spoke again.

"What you're going through; they are, too. The humans. And their sense of loss is heightened because they do not understand why." The Namek moved from his wall to stand straight and tall. "Think about it, Trunks. It's important." Having said what he needed to say, the Namek turned his back on the others and left the room. No one spoke until after they heard Piccolo blast off into the sky. Then Videl broke the silence:

"Whether Trunks decides to speak or not, you have to prepare some kind of speech, Bulma. Daddy can help you, he's used to dealing with these things, right?"

Bulma accepted the idea with eagerness. "Actually, Hercule, you could be the one to explain everything; they love you so much they'll accept whatever you say! Why, after all, you saved the world…" She was already seeing Hercule acclaimed by a horde of journalists on Capsule Corp.'s lawn, and she could feel relief that the world was going to be normal again, and almost painlessly, too. But Trunks was not the only one who could see she was missing the larger part of the picture.

"Hercule couldn't explain about the whole time travel stuff, Bulma; no one but you understands how it works," Yamcha pointed out.

"And what are you going to answer if someone asks you why the world isn't half-destroyed?" added Gohan as he moved his eyes from Pan to stare at Bulma. "After all, if the timelines 'merged', then why are the people the only things that keep the memory of the Androids' presence? What if someday the buildings that were collapsed in the other world become something halfway between what they are and what they should be, too? And what about the stuff that shouldn't exist – people will need to know that their children and cars aren't going to become something halfway between being real and not existing, you know…"

_Bra_. Gohan's words had Trunks suddenly fearing for his little sister. He was not the only one having such doubts apparently, for Krillin paled, Chi-Chi was suddenly gripping tightly onto Goku's forearm, and Videl stood up nervously to take Pan from her husband. Even Vegeta tensed against his wall.

" Kakarot. Did you speak to that Kai?"

"Huh, yeah. He says our theory that time travel creates a whole new parallel universe is presumptu…, err, some big word…" Goku scratched his head and grinned. "… and that when life-altering time travel occurs, the people concerned by it will gain the knowledge of what their original life should have been as soon as the altering is over, or something like that. But it's just the concerned people who are touched, no one else, nothing else!"

The heavy silence that followed was broken when Vegeta literally jumped at Goku's neck. "And you couldn't say that as soon as you came in, idiot?!"

Goku fell backwards on the floor, and explained as he struggled to break free: "Well, Bulma said Gohan was to speak first… Help!"

The two Saiyans' antics at least had the benefit of bringing smiles back onto their friends' faces. Trunks half considered jumping into the fray to break the two up, but Bulma was quicker than him. Trunks barely had the time to protect his ears with his hands before she screeched: "Vegeta! Let go of Goku, now!"

A few grumbles and the pair stood up and brushed themselves off. The others were still laughing and commenting, but it was Krillin's words to Gohan that kept Trunks' attention:

"You know, no offence to your dad, but I was rooting for Vegeta this time."

Trunks couldn't help but cringe: Krillin had used almost the exact same words during the Cell Games. Gohan did not appear to be phased though. Perhaps the Cell Games were far enough in his memory that he didn't make the connection.

Damnit, when he thought that for a moment, he'd almost forgotten that he was two people at once… This was what made it so hard to him, probably. Bulma and Chi-Chi were already grown-up when the Androids had happened. They'd had their lives, their families, and their personalities were already defined. Trunks… He could remember being two very different children. The first one, the one he'd been, physically, had been a mischievous and open-mouthed kid who enjoyed nothing more than play fighting with his best friend Goten. The other one had learnt quickly that pain and death were everywhere, and became therefore more thoughtful, more protective, less… carefree. When he looked at Gohan, he could see the same unbalance. The happy teenager who'd gone around in a goofy outfit to fight crime hardly had anything to do with the pained young man who fought desperately to _attempt_ to protect his planet. Oh, of course, some things hadn't changed: Gohan was still kind and selfless, and Trunks was still… well, in awe of his father, that was the only thing that came to his mind right now. But mostly, Trunks thought as he mentally compared the glasses-wearing scholar in front of him to the scarred warrior of their other life, they were different people forced into one body. He realised Gohan was speaking and tried to focus back on the conversation.

"…it was going to happen, I just said that it was a question that would probably come up, Vegeta. Try and think, sometimes!"

"Watch your mouth, brat…"

"Make me."

Trunks could almost hear the 'What is that?' going around everybody's mind. They were having a hard time realising that kind, soft-spoken Gohan had just challenged Vegeta. Trunks understood pretty well, though. He too wanted to hit something until exhaustion – after all, when you fight and when you're asleep, you don't have to worry about bordering on schizophrenia. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. He interrupted the two men advancing on each other and added more to the confusion of the others when he asked:

"Gohan? Spar?"

He knew it had been a good idea when Gohan instantly relaxed and shed his jacket. "Sounds good, yeah."

More gasps in the room. Trunks walked towards Videl and squeezed her shoulder in reassurance before he started sharing the conclusions of his recent epiphany with everybody:

"We are two different people at once. In one body. I'm the brat who played pranks on you _and_ the sad kid from the Cell Games. He is the boy you saw grow up _and_ the one-armed guy who died alone after an unfair fight. With your _wife_, Krillin," and Trunks couldn't help but glare at the innocent short man. Krillin gulped and tried to protest but Trunks pointed at his mother and Chi-Chi as he went on: "And maybe they don't feel like that because they were grown-ups with defined personalities when the shit hit the fan, but _Gohan_ wasn't, _I_ wasn't, and since Videl died so young she's probably not concerned, but I feel like a _nutcase_ now. Only I'm not, I just am two _very different_ people at once!"

Trunks was shaking now, but he was glad he'd said it. He even found some kind of twisted satisfaction in the dumbstruck expressions of his mother's friends. He carefully avoided looking at his or Gohan's family, though.

Talking about them…

"Do you feel like that too, Gohan?" asked Goku, his voice heavy with concern. His son breathed in deeply before he answered calmly:

"I just really need to hit something. Mind if we use the Gravity Room, Vegeta, Bulma?"

Trunks had already turned around to walk out of the room when a voice he didn't really expect interrupted him.

"Actually, why don't you go and spar with your father, Trunks?" asked Goku with an unusual seriousness in his voice. "It'd probably be better this way – I wanted to talk to Gohan myse…"

"No," Trunks answered flatly. "That's out of the question. I'm not going anywhere alone with _him_."

The gasps and astonished stares Trunks' words elicited made him feel compelled to justify himself: "He let Mum and I almost die! And Cell would never have absorbed 18 if he hadn't been so…"

"… So Saiyan?" suggested Yamcha. The scarred man quickly closed his mouth when said Saiyans and their sons glared hard.

"Trunks, it was ages ago," said Tien sounding more than a bit incredulous.

"Not for me, it wasn't! The Cell Games took place last week in my mind, remember?" Trunks was painfully aware of the harsh and bitter tone in his voice. He almost added that last week, he'd also gone to the beach and hit on girls with Goten and that everything had been so bright and fine then, but he couldn't, he wouldn't think about his two lives at once anymore, it would just drive him crazy. And why on earth was Vegeta not saying anything?!

"Trunks, it was not just Vegeta's fault. We all share a responsibility in Cell reaching his Perfect Form." Trunks almost spat at Krillin that he didn't care and that he really didn't want to hear it, but Bulma chose that moment to put an arm around his shoulders. He hadn't even seen her near him…

"We all decided to let Gero activate the Androids instead of destroying his lab in advance," Krillin went on. "We wanted to fight, remember?"

Trunks almost snarled he remembered Krillin protesting vehemently against the idea while Goku, Tien and _Vegeta_ wanted to fight, but again, a gesture from Bulma silenced him.

"Then, I chose not to deactivate 18, and she chose not to leave without 16…"

"… But I'd have stopped Cell long enough for all of you to escape if Father hadn't helped him!" the boy cried passionately, and it was so strange for the others, seeing "their" Trunks in his expensive clothes speaking as if he was the other Trunks. "You did that," the half-Saiyan added in a trembling but much calmer voice as he turned to Vegeta. "It all happened because of you…"

The prince shifted slightly against his wall; but when he spoke, his voice only held annoyance- and quite a bit of smugness. "I seem to remember you attacking me too, Boy."

That was it. Trunks broke out of Bulma's embrace and advanced angrily towards his father, firmly decided to wipe that stupid smirk off of the man's face for good. The boy forgot where he was, did not even realise when he turned into a Super Saiyan, he just stomped towards his target: he'd snapped.

Vegeta flew out of the window and into Capsule Corporation's gardens before assuming a defensive stance. Bulma gasped and ran to the window just after Goku flew out too – but not to act as she'd assumed: she barely had the time to see her old friend stopping his own younger son from intervening: Goten had apparently left the room she'd let him in as soon as he'd felt the two powers flaring. Bulma couldn't see Trunks ad Vegeta at all, they were too fast; but craters appeared now and then in her garden, and she could hear her son's tortured voice crying how much he hated his father.

She started to shiver uncontrollably.

"Bulma?" Gohan had put his hand on her shoulder roughly at the same time Goku and Goten landed just outside of the window. "Bulma, he doesn't really mean it. Let him vent it all out, okay?"

And to think that she'd been so proud of what her time machine had done for the Earth… To think that she'd been so fascinated by the science behind it all… She'd spent so many years on it, so much time and thinking and now…

"Bulma?"

She turned around and buried her face in Gohan's shoulder, gripping his right arm tightly. She felt surprise when she realised he had a left arm too, and when she remembered where she was, Bulma let herself understand what her son and the young man holding her were feeling. Almost twenty years of pain crashed onto her, and she had the hardest time holding back a sob. Bulma eventually pulled herself back together and left Gohan's embrace to turn to her friends:

"As you can see, we really need to talk to the public ASAP."

Bulma was shivering, but her voice was firm. She observed her friends' reactions – Yamcha and Krillin's horror-filled expressions, Goku and Goten confused but determined to help out, Chi-Chi's faked composure. She had missed them, and she had even missed Vegeta too, a bit. But now was not the time to reminisce. She had a speech to write, and then, she'd have a son to help out… A thought suddenly struck Bulma. "Do you remember being dead at all?" '_Does Vegeta remember his stay in Hell?_'

"I remember dying, but nothing further," Videl answered calmly.

"And Goten remembers nothing," Gohan needlessly added from behind the scientist. "It's only the survivors who have memories."

Bulma nodded, then turned to those of the group she knew from her earlier adventures. "What about the fighters? Goku, Yamcha, and everyone, do you…"

Yamcha looked at her strangely, and cut Goku off before he could answer her pretended question. "Vegeta probably remembers nothing either, Bulma."

The woman started, discomfort obvious on her features. Was she that obvious? Fortunately, Hercule chose that moment to intervene and give her an occasion to gather her wits:

"Are you people all staying, or can we get to work already?"

"They're doing whatever they want," Bulma stated, "but you and I are writing that speech now. We'll just say… someone from my entourage used the machine, and not reveal Trunks' name if he doesn't want to." She looked towards Goku from approval, and saw him silence Goten and nod to her before she went on: "Videl, you contact the media. Tell them you're the daughter of Mister Satan, and that he and Capsule Corp. scientists are going to explain everything, err…"

"Tomorrow morning?" Hercule suggested. Gohan shook his head no, and Bulma realized the young man had left her side so she was standing alone in front of everybody, like a true leader.

"It's not early enough," said Gohan, his stance betraying his nervousness. A well-timed explosion coming from the gardens conveniently reminded where the hurry was. "Do it tonight. There's enough time for the media to come and for you to write that speech."

Bulma nodded. "It's going to be quite the challenge, but it can be done. Hercule, follow me. Everybody else, you just… make yourselves at home, if you haven't already. And be careful with your fighting skills, it's probably not the best time to be sighted flying around .Goku…" Bulma slowed noticeably as she turned towards her old friend. "Please, keep an eye on our sons." The scientist glanced significantly in Trunks' general direction and squeezed Gohan's shoulder lightly before she left the room.

—End of part 1—

* * *

 Part two is currently underway; if anyone feels like being a beta-reader, that'd be a great help ^.^

Thank you for reading!


End file.
